Ice Melts
by Chin Suginei
Summary: Fuusuke is upset because of a death of a friend... and he wants revenge, but the story behind the 'accident' is even more shocking, and somehow it seems that hey're getting further and further away from the reality.
1. Chapter 1

Me: Okay! Now here's a story of Gazelle and Burn! Thoug there's not much romance… I'll write a sequel though!

…...

"We're going to challenge… the world." Haruko said with a smile. Fuusuke had waved at her with an absent mind. Little did he know that…

"Where's Haruko?" He asked Terumi (Aphrodi/Afuro) when the Korea team came to Japan in order to enter the prelims.

Terumi gave him a confused look, "Haruko… you mean Nagumo Haruko?"

"Stop playing dumb and get on with it."

"… she died three months ago."

Fuusuke made a shocked expression, there was no way…this didn't make sense… "She's… dead?"

"Yeah, didn't you know?"

_This is definitely not happening! _Fuusuke turned and ran towards the living room, "Burn!"

"What?" the red head looked up with a bored expression.

"Is it true Haruko's dead?"

Haruya looked confused for a moment, but then he saw Terumi… "You told him?"

"Yeah."

Haruya turned back to Fuusuke, "It's true." Fuuske's eyes stretched wide, "She died three months ago before the prelims of FFI."

"How?"

"She tried to save that girl, you know, Kidou Megumi, from some falling iron bars and… she got killed instead…"

A shadow flicked across Fuusuke's face, "The prelims… how far has it gone?"

"Ah, our next match is with Inazuma Japan, in fact…" Terumi said.

"Please let me join…"

"What?"

"I want revenge… for Haruko."

**Three days later…**

The Korea team met Japan… though it wasn't the day of the match… Fuusuke nearly strangled Megumi, "You killed Haruko!"

"Suzuno, stop it!" Nagumo said, grabbing his normally cool headed team mate's arm, "Let's hear the story from her first…"

Megumi looked up at the two former aliens, she opened her mouth, her eyes looked from Fuusuke to, she had anger burning in her eyes, too. Even if Haruya doesn't say it, his eyes were filled with accusing… Megumi's eyes softened, "Yes, I did kill her. It was all an act. I set up a trap to make the iron bars fall down by themselves, but she wasn't going the right way so… I made a gamble with myself and stood under the falling bars, and as I predicted, that idiot tried to save me and died herself."

"How dare you…!" Fuusuke pounced on Megumi, or at least that would have happened if Yuka and Masako hadn't step in just in time.

"What's wrong? If you're soccer players, why not solve this through soccer? How about the match four days from now?" Junko smirked, coming in front of Megumi.

"Fine." Fuusuke growled and turned away. Haruya looked at Megumi for a long moment… then followed after Fuusuke.

When the two Korea players were out of earshot, Masako turned to Megumi, "Why didn't you just tell them the truth?"

Megumi picked herself up from the ground and made a sad smile, "Sometimes… the truth is better off untold." She turned to join the others for practice. "More like… how can you tell the truth when that person already does not believe you?" She whispered darkly.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yo, Yuka." Haruya said with a hint of a sneer in his voice, "Trying to cover up you're friend's actions?" He suddenly noticed that the platinum blonde beauty wasn't listening to him at all.

"34…" Her cherry blossom pink lips parted slightly and whispered out a number.

"Huh?"

"It's been 34 days." She pointed at a small stone tomb that was seated by the riverside, the words _Nagumo Haruko_ was carved into it with care. There was a banquet of flowers in front of it…

"Is that… Haruko's tomb?"

"Megumi-san did it all by herself." Yuka sighed, "She's been delivering new flowers everyday, which is 34 days in a row now…"

""Why would she do that if it was her who…?" Haruya was getting extremely confused now.

"… I can't answer you that right now." Yuka said, a sad look in her eyes, she looked back towards the tomb, "But… there is someone other than Megumi visiting…" True enough there was another banquet of flowers placed beside Megumi's… "Could it be Suzuno-san maybe?"

"No way… even I didn't know about her tomb until now…"

Yuka looked at him for a long time, "Is that so?" She stood up, (she was originally kneeling in front of the tomb). "Suzuno-san really hates Megumi-san now, huh…"

"Yeah, and they used to get along just fine, too."

"A lot of things change just as time flows, you can't stop it… but you can change it…" A small smile crept onto Yuka's face, "It's not too late to tell Suzuno-san that you love him, you know."

"What?"

"It's so~ obvious, I bet even Endou-san's noticed."

"I better get going." Haruya deliberately changed the topic, "Erm… see ya."

"Yeah…" Yuka raised a hand and did a small polite wave, "I hope we can play soccer happily together like before soon." Her expression was gentle. She turned back to the banquet from an unknown person… she spotted something that she shouldn't have… a string of red hair waved in the wind, one end of it was caught on to a thorn of a rose… Yuka furrowed her eyebrows, realization suddenly jumped to her eyes, "Wait, Nagumo-san!" She shouted.

Haruya turned around, "What?"

Yuka opened her mouth as if to say something, but gulped it back down her throat and could only manage to choke out, "Tell Suzuno-san that I'm… I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"And… _goodbye_."

**After a few minutes**

"Here." Haruya handed Fuusuke his water bottle, "Drink."

"Thanks." Fuusuke grumbled. Haruya somehow made him irritated… maybe it was because of the fact that he and Haruko are quite alike.

"Hey, I met Gouenji just now…" Haruya told the whole story to his teammate, at last finishing the strange departing sentence of Yuka's… "You know what she meant?"

"Not at all." Fuusuke's voice was cold.

"I thought it was strange." It hurts to see the boy he loved like this…

"Wait, did you say… Gouenji Yuka?" Terumi (Aphrodi/Afuro) poked his head in.

"Yeah, so?"

"That's impossible…"

"Huh?"

"Gouenji Yuka… drowned in the river beside that hill this morning!"

"This morning…" Haruya murmured, "But that means… it happened right after I left!"

Just then, the door crashed open, "Nagumo!" Masako burst in, "How can you… what ever did Yuka do to deserve…"

"Hold it! I didn't…"

"It might be an accident." Shuuya, Yuka's twin, came in and grabbed Masako's shoulder, "Though it's true that Nagumo is a suspect now." Shuuya glared at Haruya, "The Yuka I know would never lose balance, besides that, she can swim!"

"So what? I told you it wasn't me!"

"Everybody calm down!" Junko took control, "The police are coming… so for the time being, Nagumo-kun may have to go to he police station for questioning and…"

"If he's going then I'm going, too!" Fuusuke said, standing up.

Junko looked at him, her face twisted into a leer, "Did I ask for your opinion?"

"Look, it's impossible that Nagumo's responsible for her death! I know that!"

"Well, apparently, my friend Megumi is much more calmer then you're dear boyfriend and I don't think she's the type to kill either."

"She admitted it." Fuusuke snarled in Junko's face.

"… let's just all wait quietly until the police comes." Megumi said, her voice hardly a whisper.

"What makes you…"

"Suzuno." Haruya pulled him down back on the bench, "Everything's gonna be fine, you'll see."

Megumi looked at them thoughtfully and left without another word. Junko ran outside to look for her, "Megumi! Thank goodness you're-"

"He's afraid…" Megumi whispered.

"Huh?"

"He's afraid to lose Nagumo-san right after losing Haruko-san…"

"Well, that's obvious…"

"This is… getting fun…" She bent down and peered into the surface of the river. A strand of white hair caught among the seaweed, "Yuka…"

**Night time**

A crash… "Huh?" Junko ran down to the river, "Why is this…" her eyes stretched wide with horror as she spotted _that_. It was a reflection… _her _reflection, and someone else's… red hair dancing in the night wind…

A shadow appeared behind her, a rock in hand… it struck…

Me: Know who the person behind all of this is? You'll get a prize if you win!

Junko: One night with your favorite character!

Me: How did you think of that?

Masako: Don't listen to her… that hentai…

Junko: Look who's talking, huh…


	3. Chapter 3

"Yuka…" Shuuya walked to the river where the police were still searching for the body of his beloved younger twin sister.

"You!" Fuusuke glared at Megumi, "When are you going to confess that this is all _you're_ doing?"

Megumi had a cloudy look in her eyes, "Why would I…" She broke off as flames erupted from Shuuya.

"Shut up all of you! It's only a matter of time anyways before we get to the end of this… I swear I'll make the person who did this to Yuka pay a high price!" He growled, his fists trembling with anger.

**At Haruko's tomb**

Junko caught the rock, "This is impossible!" Her eyes grew wide with fear as she felt herself fall into the cold dark water below… a pair of green eyes looked down at her coldly.

"Anyone who figures out my secret will have to die…" the red head glared down into the now calm river.

**Back at Masako's place**

"Where's Megumi?" Masako asked.

"No idea." Ichirouta shrugged.

Masako looked at him long and hard, "I'm going to the river…"

"Be careful."

**After a few minutes**

"Wait, then this means…" Masako had two strands of red hair in her hands, "The one who's behind all of this is…!" She turned to Mamoru who had been dragged out by her a moment ago, "Fetch everyone here this instant!"

"Huh?"

"Now!"

Mamoru did as he was told, everything seemed okay and ready to go… "I shall reveal all… in front of this river of sins and this grave of secrets."

"Go on then." Fuusuke said, crossing his arms, "We all know who it is anyways."

"Please take a look at these." She passed out the two strands of red hair. "You'll understand the situation immediately. Some of you anyways, and perhaps you'll change you're view about Megumi."

Fuusuke peered at the strands, his eyes suddenly grew wide, "But this is…"

"I found this one," She pointed at the strand in Haruya's hands, "Caught on a thorn of a rose in that banquet. And this one," She dedicated to Fuusuke's, "In Junko's hand when she fell into the river."

"What? What's this about Junko?" Natsumi asked.

"I found her just a moment ago, she was hardly alive. I called the ambulance, though, and they might be at the hospital already."

"So, are you going to explain now?" Shuuya asked, staring at the strands of hair.

Masako took a deep breath, "Okay, here goes… let's pray I won't die before I reveal all…" She paused a moment… "The person who's behind everything is… Nagumo Haruko." A gasp erupted from the crowd, Fuusuke looked like he wanted to say something, but Masako shook her head, "I don't have time for questions and protests. That time… the one who dies was Megumi not Haruko, and for some reason, Haruko has come back disguised as Megumi… This grave… is also Megumi's, was, anyways. Yuka probably noticed the hair caught on the banquet and guessed that their was another person involved with all of this… and that's Kiyama Hiroto. He, for another reason, was helping and erasing the tracks Haruko had left behind, and I suppose Haruko doesn't know about it either." Megumi… I mean, Haruko looked towards Hiroto, his head was lowered, his expression couldn't be seen, "That's way Hiroto decided to get rid of Yuka, except she escaped by jumping into the river. I heard that she was found by Hitomiko-san, since Sun Garden is just down the river… thought her memories aren't clear from the shock."

"Is there any proof, though?" Haruya asked, turning towards the silent Haruko.

"Isn't this proof enough?" Masako pointed at one of the strands, "Hiroto's red hair is bright red, and I'm guessing he was planning on taking the blame for everything if he ever got found out, but his 'mission' or whatever it was wasn't completed, yet, that's why…" She stopped, her voice trailing off, it was hard to reveal her own friend's crimes… "And one other thing. Megumi's grave stone was removed I order to be replaced by the fake one which ahs Haruko's name carved into it. And guess where it is now?" Masako turned around and pointed at the river, "In there. Junko was probably looking at her reflection and got seen by Haruko, she thought Junko ahd noticed the gravestone and that's why…" She trailed off again, tears threatening to roll out at the thought of her best friend being pushed into the river, "But I want to know the story behind all of this…"

"I have no intention on hiding anymore." Haruko said, taking off her red contacts and combing away the brown hair spray. "The story is this. Megumi and Fuusuke had a fight, and apparently he said some pretty insulting things to her, and well… she became really depressed and decided to kill herself. Though, there was also another plan, she wanted to use Kageyama's way of killing people… she made a trap that will make metal fall down at a certain time, and planned to make that trap activitate on herself, so when she died the police's greatest suspicion will be Kageyama, and at least for a while, the Italian team will be free from him… but something went wrong… the timing wasn't right and I got caught in it. Megumi saved me and as she wished… had died. From then on, I decided to kill the person that had driven Megumi to this state, not Kageyama but Suzuno-sama. In the end… I still couldn't kill him, because I saw how much my brother cared for him… I don't know, but, I just couldn't."

"It's the same for me." Hiroto said, "I couldn't let Haruko get found out, probably because I hold too many childhood memories with her, whenever I wanted to turn her in, memories just flash out… and I ended up helping her instead."

"Well." A voice said, "Looks like the police made it in time." It was Yuka with the police behind her, "For the time being, please come with us."

"Oh yeah, Yuka's part of the international police force isn't she?" Junko laughed, coming out of another police car.

"You two!" Haruko ran over, "I'm so sorry! I didn't know what came over me… probably because of the shock of Megumi dying right in front of me."

Fuusuke and Haruya stood rigid, "Haruko…" Haruya took a step forward.

"Heh. I really messed up this time, bro." She grinned, "But, hey, that doesn't mean you can mess up, get Suzuno-sama's heart or…" her face became dark, "I'll kill you."

"Uh… um."

"Bye, for now." She made a sad smile, "Suzuno-sama," She turned to the ice user, "Megumi said something when she was stuck under the iron bars… 'Forgive' that's all… but I had a feeling she was trying to say something to you at that time." As she stepped into the car… "Goodbye. Let's challenge the world again someday."

A hush fell upon the players as the cars drove away…

"It's a beautiful day to play soccer." Junko said looking at the sky, "Don't you think so, too, Megumi?"

"It's… raining." Fuusuke whispered, as a drop of water drop onto a picture of him and Megumi playing soccer…

"Yeah." Haruko put an arm around the shorter boy as tears ran down Fuusuke's cheeks.

"And I couldn't even say sorry to her…"

"I know. We all regret that we couldn't have said more to her while she was alive."

"I'm terrible."

"You're not." Haruya said firmly, "That's why I li-"

"Hey, cut out the mushy stuff and let's play soccer!" Mamoru threw a ball at them, hitting the couple in the head.

"This is the first time I ever wanted to kill someone." Junko muttered, putting her camera away. "I was hoping to add a new collection, too."


End file.
